Faculty at Thomas College in Waterville voted yesterday to join the Maine Education Association, making it the first private college in Maine to unionize.
Of the 42 eligible faculty members, 28 voted in favor of unionizing, and 7 voted against.
"Faculty, rightfully, are concerned that these changes are being made a very quickly, not in consultation and partnership, and we were very concerned that these were going to have adverse impacts on students," said Jono Anzalone is an assistant professor of economics at the college, and was on the union organizing committee.
He said faculty grew concerned last year when newly installed President Jeannine Uzzi began made changes without consulting the faculty senate and those decisions were affecting students.
"For example, the administration decided that there would be few, if any, online options for students, for course delivery," Anzalone said. "And our faculty pointed out that we have student athletes. We have commuter students at Thomas and those courses are the life blood."
In a statement, a spokesperson for Thomas College said administrators respect the decision to pursue collective bargaining, takes the commitment to student success seriously and looks forward to collaborating within this new framework.
For disclosure, most of Maine Public's news staff is represented by the Maine Education Association.
